Ful Medames

Buffet on Table: Breakfasts across Countries

Day 23: Middle East - Ful Medames

For the final day of this week's 'Buffet on Table -- Breakfasts', I have a Middle Eastern staple breakfast called Ful Medames or Foul Medammes. The name sure sounds strange, but it is a hearty and filling dish made with dried fava beans soft simmered with garlic and served with lemon and chopped herbs.

This dish has been on my to-make list for a very long time. I think I saw it for the first time on Vaishali's blog when she made the elaborate Egyptian breakfast last September. I was intrigued by the new bean and wanted to give it a try, it took me almost a year to make the dish.

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Mexican Vegetarian Chilaquiles

Buffet on Table: Breakfasts across Countries

Day 21: Mexican Chilaquiles

After a simple Cuban breakfast, we move onto Mexico for a traditional dish called Chilaquiles. Lightly fried corn tortillas smothered with red or green salsa forms the basis of this dish.
Chilaquiles are generally served for breakfast or brunch and is usually made with leftover tortillas and salsas. They are also served as the last meal in a long lasting wedding party close to morning in what is known as a tornaboda (or after-wedding party).

I found this 'Chilaquile Manifesto' post and knew right away that the author means business and knows a lot about chilaquiles. So I just followed the recipe without futzing it around. The resulting chilaquiles were soooo good that even my picky eater son loved them and came back for seconds.

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Chickpea Croquettes with Tzatziki Sauce

As I was looking for dishes to serve with tzatziki sauce, I saw these chickpea croquettes recipe in Vegetarian Times magazine. Original recipe was not served with tzatziki, but I thought they tasted great with the addition of the creamy yogurt sauce.

I found adding chickpea flour (besan) and whole chickpeas in these croquettes was quite interesting. The whole chickpeas give these croquettes a hearty texture.

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Erra Karam Dosa

Buffet on Table: Week 2 -- Indian States

Day 7: Andhra Pradesh -- Erra Karam Dosa

I am making a dish from my home state of Andhra today. It was quite a task deciding on dishes for this week. I had big plans but things got hectic and I lost track of time. Finally I decided on making simple recipes that have been on my bookmarks for a long time.

This Erra Karam Dosa from Suma's blog is something I have been planning to make for a while now. It is a spicy and delicious variation of dosa from the Rayalaseema region in Andhra. According to Suma it is a dish that is a popular street food.

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Gongura Bobbarla Kura (Sorrel Spinach and Black eyed Peas curry)

Last weekend we visited my cousin's place and she has a lovely backyard garden filled with Indian greens and veggies. My mom and I were got very excited and brought home bags full of gongura (sorrel spinach), bachalakura (malabar spinach/ pohi) and some tomatoes.

Indian stores here sell gongura & bachalakura for lot of money. I'm never even tempted to buy these sorry looking greens -- they are almost wilted with absolutely no life left. This explains our excitement when we saw fresh, vibrant greens :-)

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Greek Lentil Salad

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 4/ Day 1

Theme: Lentils -- 3 Ways

Dish: Greek Lentil Salad

My theme for this week's blogging marathon is 'Lentils -- 3 ways'. Valli wants us to use 3 different lentils in 3 different ways, so for the next 3 days I have some interesting dishes using lentils.
I love dals and I am always looking for ways to incorporate them into my daily diet. Lentils are one of the most important sources of protein for vegetarians and I stock up on quite a few varieties in my pantry.

For the first day, I made a Greek Lentil salad using Puy or French Lentils. These tiny lentils cook up in about 25~30 minutes and do not need to be pre-soaked. So it is really quick and easy to make this salad. Recipe is from Vegetarian Times magazine.

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Cuban Black Beans for #Food of the World (Vegan Recipe)

For this month's #Food of the World event, we are traveling to Cuba. Cuban cuisine is quite new to me. I've never made any Cuban dishes at home nor tried anything outside. So I took to Google looking for vegetarian Cuban recipes.
Cuban cuisine is a fusion of Spanish and Caribbean cuisines. Cuban recipes share spices and techniques with Spanish cooking, with some Caribbean influence in spice and flavor. Traditional Cuban meal is not served in courses, all the dishes are served that the same time.

The typical meal consists of plantains, black beans, Cuban bread, pork with onions and tropical fruits. Black beans and rice, referred to Moros and plantains are staples of the Cuban diet. Garlic, cumin, oregano and bay leaves are the dominant spices.

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Saravana Bhavan Sambar

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes -- Veena's Veg Nation

Dish: Saravana Bhavan Sambar
For the 2nd day of cooking from Veena's space, I made this perfect Saravana Bhavan sambar. Saravana bhavan is a popular restaurant in Chennai and this sambar replicates the one served there.

I've never been to this restaurant in India, but heard a lot about it. So we went to their Edison location in NJ, but lets just say the experience is nothing to talk about. The food was 'meh' and the service was 'blah' :-) But I want to visit the restaurant in Chennai some time. Hopefully that day will come sooner than later.

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7 Layer Mexican Dip

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Movie Night Snacks

Dish: 7 Layer Mexican dip

My theme for this week's blogging marathon is 'Snacks for Movie Night'. Family movie nights have become rare with my husband's crazy travel schedule but we try and catch up once in a while. I'm not big on snacks, I rather eat a full meal and I'm happy. But the kids and the husband love snacks. So for the next 3 days, I'm going to share some make ahead or quick to make snacks that are great for a movie night (or for any night or party for that matter).

First up is a Mexican layer dip. It has 7 layers with gaucamole, refried beans, salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, olives and scallions. If you are up for it, you can make some of the layers at home, or if you are like me, just buy some good quality guacamole, refried beans and salsa.

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Vegetarian Rice & Beans Burrito with Queso Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: Tortilla based Dishes

Dish: Vegetarian Rice & Beans Burrito with Queso Sauce

For the last day of this week's marathon under 'Tortilla based dishes' theme, I made rice & beans filled burritos. We love Mexican food and I make it at least once a week. I always keep tortillas in stock for quick wraps, burritos or tacos.

Taco Bell happens to be our favorite fast food restaurant and before you start judging me let me tell you that is the only place where we get a decent choice of vegetarian options. Also they keep adding new items on to their menu unlike other fast food chains where we usually exhaust the dishes to try the first time we visit. Other Mexican fast food places we visit are Qdoba & Chipotle. So moral of the story is we love Mexican food and eat it quite frequently at home and outside.

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Vegetarian Sincronizada (Quesadillas)

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Tortilla based Dishes

Dish: Sincronizada

We are starting a brand new edition of Blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Tortilla based dishes'. Valli gave us a list of tortilla dishes to choose from to make our lives easy. Tortilla is nothing but the Spanish version of Indian rotis. They are soft and made with finely ground wheat flour or corn flour.

So for the first day, I picked Sincronizada. The name seemed very complicated but making it is not complicated at all. Sincronizada is usually confused with Quesadilla, but they are considered are completely different dishes. Quesadilla is traditionally made with corn flour and is single folded. Whereas sincronizada is made with flour tortilla, has 'ham' as a mandatory ingredient and is usually made as a sandwich.

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Asparagus Tomato Dal

Blogging Marathon# 52: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Seasonal Veggies & Fruits

Dish: Asparagus Tomato Dal

My theme for the second week of this month's marathon is 'Dishes with Seasonal Veggies & Fruits'. First up is a simple dal with asparagus and tomato.

Asparagus is a spring vegetable and I look forward to buying it when in season. Asparagus has a delicate flavor and is composed of 93% water. It is low in calories and very low in sodium. It is a good source of vitamins and minerals, dietary fiber, protein etc etc.

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Vegetable Dhansak

Blogging Marathon# 52: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Parsi Dishes

Dish: Vegetable Dhansak
We are going to our regular 3 day schedule of Blogging Marathon this month and my theme for this week is 'Parsi Dishes'. Parsis, meaning Persians, are the followers of the ancient Persian religion known as Zoroastrianism. They emigrated to India from Persia to avoid religious persecution by the Muslims.
While looking for Parsi dishes, I came across this lovely post by Peri. She is a Parsi blogger and her blog has tons of delicious Parsi (and non-Parsi) recipes. In that explains, she explains the different between Indian and Parsi food and how parsi cuisine is unique. Do check it out more details.
For my first day, I made a very flavorful and spicy Dhansak. It is a hearty dish with lentils, vegetables and choice of meat (which I skipped, of course). It is flavored with aromatic spice blend and is usually served with Parsi brown rice and a kachumber salad (cucumber salad). I didn't make the rice, so served the dhansak with some roti.

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Ragi Paniyaram (Ragi Ponganalu)

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Ragi Paniyaram (Ragi Ponganalu) from Priya's recipe here.

For Day 2 of this week's 'Bookmarked recipes', I found this delicious Ragi Paniyaram recipe on Priya's blog. These paniyaram or ponganalu are made with a combination of ragi flour, leftover idli batter and seasoned with onions, green chilies and cilantro. They taste just like tiny bite size uthappams.
I hardly ever make idlis not because I don't like them, but because making them seems to be such a hassle. I always forget to soak dal and even when I do, the batter refuses to ferment in our very cold, chilly house in winter. No matter what I do (leave the oven door open, keep the batter in a warm oven etc etc), it takes almost forever to ferment. That demotivates me from making idlis.

But the other day, my husband out of nowhere said it's been a while we had idlis. So, I took the leap and made the batter. As expected it took almost 2 days for the batter to ferment and after enjoying the idlis and uthappams, I used the leftover batter to make these ragi paniyarams. Adding ragi flour makes these paniyarams taste earthy and delicious.

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Ragi Adai (Finger Millet & Lentil Dosa)

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 4/ Day 1

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Ragi Adai from Valli's recipe here

We are starting the final week of this month's Blogging marathon. Next month is going to be a month long mega marathon with 'Baking' as the theme, so the marathon group is currently busy firing up the ovens and making tons of baked goodies.
My theme for this week is 'Bookmarked Recipes' and I decided to keep it simple this time around. With thousands of bookmarked recipes, it is practically impossible to make just 3, so I picked an ingredient and found 3 recipes from my bookmarks and that made thing simple and less stressful.

Ragi flour is my ingredient and the first dish I made are these Ragi adai from Valli's blog. Adai are almost instant dosas made with a mixture of different lentils. Here ragi flour is used along with lentils and rice.

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Menthikura-Pesarapappu Chaaru (Methi-Moongdal Soup)

There's an overdose of Methi recipes on my blog this week. After Methi Matar Masala, Methi Chana Pulao & Methi pulusu/ stew, I have a lentil based methi dish today. Recipe is from a Telugu cooking show.

Methi and moong dal are a good combination to make pappu or dal. But in this recipe, the consistency is more like a soup instead of thick like a dal. Soup is flavored with freshly made spice powder made with coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds and peppercorns. This makes the dish taste very earthy and spicy. Finally adding lemon juice to the rasam/ soup gives it the required tang or zing that makes this dish super delicious.

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Roasted Vegetable Wrap

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: American Sandwiches

Dish: Roasted Vegetable Sandwich Wrap

For the last day of this week's 'American Sandwiches' theme, I have a quick and easy Roasted Veggie Sandwich wrap. Wraps are less messy and very convenient to pack for lunches. Absolutely anything can go into a wrap, like these sandwich wraps I made for a picnic.

Today's wrap has roasted veggies in it with a healthy smear of mashed bean spread. Any vegetable can be roasted and used here. To expedite the roasting part, broiler is used. But if you want to roast them the slow, methodical way, then roast the veggies in a preheated 450°F for 20~30 minutes. Veggies can be grilled on a stove top or outdoor grill. The mashed bean spread can be easily replaced with some homemade or store bought hummus.

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Veggie Burger Sandwich (Beans & Veggie Burger)

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: American Sandwiches

Dish: Veggie Burger Sandwich

Homemade Veggie burgers have a bad rap -- they are flavorless and have a very high tendency to fall apart while cooking. There are quite a few good quality frozen veggie burgers but most of them are soy based and have long list of unnecessary ingredients with very complicated spellings. There are a ton of recipes for veggie burger recipes on the Internet and after going through a number of recipes I found this recipe by Guy Fieri on the Food Network site.

This recipe uses 3 different types of beans; white, chickpeas and black beans. I used only 2 types of beans and the burger worked beautifully, it didn't fall apart on me and cooked perfectly in the skillet.

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Vegetarian Three Bean Stew with Roasted Potatoes

This winter doesn't seem to end any time soon. The temps have been hovering below freezing and it feels like a deep freezer when we step outside. I am sick of wearing all the layers and I feel bad for the kids who have to lug around their heavy book bag in addition to 3~4 layers of clothing. My son said he felt like a brick with all the layers. The weather man said it's going to be red hot over the weekend -- predicted temps are in lower 40's and he thinks that it is going to feel hot like summer.
Anyway our woes with winter will probably continue for a few more weeks. In the mean time, I made this hearty vegetarian 3 bean stew to warm me up. I tasted this dish at Medieval Times last year and it has stuck with me ever since.

Medieval Times is a place where you step back into Medieval times with epic battles, jousting tournaments along with a royal dinner. We have a location very close to our house and we had a chance to visit it last spring. My son had a great time there. I wasn't much into the battle but I enjoyed my vegetarian feast for sure.

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Arisi Upma

Blogging Marathon# 49: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Cooking for 1

Dish: Arisi Upma

I will be 'Cooking for 1' this week. Ever since I started cooking, just cooking for myself has rarely happened. Back in the grad school days, my roomies and I used to cook for the whole gang. After getting married, never got to cook for just 1. But with my husband traveling a lot lately and both the kids in the school, there are days when I have to cook for myself.

I try to keep the dishes I make for myself very simple with few ingredients (usually the odds and ends in the fridge) and few dishes to clean. So for the first day, I made this simple and comforting rice upma from Sandhya's blog. The good thing about this dish is it can easily be made for 1 or for 10. A quick and easy dish that takes about 30 minutes from start to finish and needs about 15 minutes of hands on time.

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